My first ever fermentation blow out

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
N

New-B-Brewer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
67
Reaction score
0
Location
Ohio
So I just went to the basement to check on my first all grain batch that I brewed yesterday and the lid on the bucket is pushed way up but still on and the airlock is filled with krausen. There is some spattering of krausen around the bucket but I'm not concerned about that.
What does concern me is what do I do about the airlock? It was filled with vodka before being overwhelmed by krausen. Do I take it out of the bucket, clean it and replace it? Do I just leave it alone? Its not bubbling right now but I can hear a hiss of gas escaping from somewhere.
 
Not sure what the best solution would be, but you definitely need to let the air escape before the lid blows. I have heard of people removing airlocks and having beer gush out of the grommet. Either way you need to get the airlock taken out and replace it with a blowoff tube. If you clean the airlock and reinsert it then it will likely get clogged up again while it is actively fermenting. Good luck!
 
New-B-Brewer said:
So I just went to the basement to check on my first all grain batch that I brewed yesterday and the lid on the bucket is pushed way up but still on and the airlock is filled with krausen. There is some spattering of krausen around the bucket but I'm not concerned about that.
What does concern me is what do I do about the airlock? It was filled with vodka before being overwhelmed by krausen. Do I take it out of the bucket, clean it and replace it? Do I just leave it alone? Its not bubbling right now but I can hear a hiss of gas escaping from somewhere.
Click to expand...

You're fortunate you haven't painted your ceiling with krausen.;)

You need to relieve the pressure building inside your fermenter, or you need to grab your camera.:D

Search for "blow off tube" It's a piece of tubing that fits onto the airlock. The blow off is able to handle more volume of CO2/krausen.

As far as the current mess, just clean the fermenter. Before you remove your airlock, clean the krausen mess from the fermenter's exterior and sanitize the outside of the bucket. Take a piece of foil, sanitize it, remove the airlock, and place the sanitized foil over the airlock hole. Once you've covered the hole with a piece of sanitized foil, clean and sanitize the airlock and replace with blow-off.

If you're not able to cobble together a blowoff, replce the airlock and keep an eye on the fermenter.

Post back if you have any questions.

Welcome and good luck.

Cheers:mug:
 
I sympathize...my second brew was a weizen I kept in my closet. At 3 AM, the night before an early meeting, no less, the airlock popped off - sounded like a bottle rocket and woke me up. Splashed up krausen RIGHT NEXT to my nice suit. I don't primary in that closet anymore.

If you have an "ale pail" your siphoning tubing and an empty, oxicleaned and sanitized liquor works well. I fill up the old liquor bottle with starsan and then run the tube into it.

Anyway, I say soak the airlock in oxyclean. If you can't clean the krausen out of it (I couldn't), just buy a new one at your local LHBS. It's not worth the hassle IMO.
 
Disaster hopefully averted.
So I pulled out the airlock and it spray krausen nearly to the rafters and certainly all over me. Not like a champaign bottle exploding more like a slightly sharken up can of diet coke so not a major mess.
Anyway, the only hose I have doesn't fit on the airlock so I stuck my racking cane in the grommet on the bucket and attached my hose to that. I put the other end of the hose in a 1/2 gal tupperware bowl and covered the tip of the hose with vodka (I dont have any starsan right now) - cheap vodka. Within 5 mins the krausen had reached the top of the racking cane and was headed down the hose. I'll see what it looks like in the morning.
 
Chapter 3
Thanks for the encouragement guys but if my beer survives tonight's episode I'll be amazed.
This morning I checked on the make shift blow off tube I made and it seemed to be functioning as intended. There was a small amount of krausen in the bowl and the tube was bubbling in the mix of of vodka and krausen. I went to work then a kid's soccer game so I came home about 13 hours later.
By the time I got back to check on the fermentation there wasn't much change in the contents of the bowl but the racking cane had started leaning to one side and air seemed to be escaping from between the cane and the grommet. I noticed that the foaming seemed to be down and now it was just gas coming out so I decided to remove the racking cane/blow off tube and replace the airlock. I pulled out the cane and went upstairs to get the sanitized air lock, of course, I was momentarily delayed by one of the kids and as I headed back downstairs about 5 minutes later I noticed that I left the basement door open and I thought to myself that wasnt a good idea. I started down the steps and was met half way down by my 1 yr old chocolate lab who was coming up the steps licking her chops. I knew this wasn't going to be good.
I got down stairs and it was obvious the dog had been licking the krausen off the top of the bucket, and not around the edge, but right where the whole in bucket is. I picked the dog hairs from around the hole and inserted the airlock. Now I head to bed with the comforting thought that at least there's not much bacteria in a dog's mouth-RIGHT.
Actually, at least its a tripel so hopefully there's enough alcohol in there to kill any contamination.
 
New-B-Brewer said:
Chapter 3
Thanks for the encouragement guys but if my beer survives tonight's episode I'll be amazed.
This morning I checked on the make shift blow off tube I made and it seemed to be functioning as intended. There was a small amount of krausen in the bowl and the tube was bubbling in the mix of of vodka and krausen. I went to work then a kid's soccer game so I came home about 13 hours later.
By the time I got back to check on the fermentation there wasn't much change in the contents of the bowl but the racking cane had started leaning to one side and air seemed to be escaping from between the cane and the grommet. I noticed that the foaming seemed to be down and now it was just gas coming out so I decided to remove the racking cane/blow off tube and replace the airlock. I pulled out the cane and went upstairs to get the sanitized air lock, of course, I was momentarily delayed by one of the kids and as I headed back downstairs about 5 minutes later I noticed that I left the basement door open and I thought to myself that wasnt a good idea. I started down the steps and was met half way down by my 1 yr old chocolate lab who was coming up the steps licking her chops. I knew this wasn't going to be good.
I got down stairs and it was obvious the dog had been licking the krausen off the top of the bucket, and not around the edge, but right where the whole in bucket is. I picked the dog hairs from around the hole and inserted the airlock. Now I head to bed with the comforting thought that at least there's not much bacteria in a dog's mouth-RIGHT.
Actually, at least its a tripel so hopefully there's enough alcohol in there to kill any contamination.
Click to expand...

I think it's a fact that a dog has less bacteria in its mouth than a human. So at least it wasn't you or your kids who were licking it!

I would guess it's probably okay. You already had a very active fermentation going, so the yeast should win the war :)
 
Hugh_Jass_Gnome said:
Search for "blow off tube" It's a piece of tubing that fits onto the airlock. The blow off is able to handle more volume of CO2/krausen.


Cheers:mug:
Click to expand...

I had to do this very thing for the first time this past Saturday. Luckily after so much reading on HBT I knew exactly what to do...removed the 3pc airlock took another one I had, sanitized it and the run off tube from my MTL, stuck the tube into the airlock, popped the airlock in the bucket and watched the
the bowl of starsan i stuck the other end in bubble like crazy.
Next morning the bowl of starsan looked like wort :)
 
You need to put the dog licking event into the "what are some of the mistakes..." thread :ban:

Just keep saying "I love my dog, I love my dog..."
 
My suggestion, after surviving shrapnel from a few blow off's - Build the son of fermentation chiller. It's really cheap, the fermentation temp control makes better beer, and it contains the blow off's very nicely.

With that said, some of the very best beer that I have made, including a dunkelweizen that won a blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair this year have suffered from the dreaded syndrome. Don't worry 'bout your beer, it will turn out great.
 
Yeah, I'm beyond worrying about it. Its bubbling away right now and we'll have to see how it tastes in a couple months.

IowaBeerGuy, right now my basement is about 69 degrees and when I rack to secondary I will use the tshirt trick to lower the temp a little. I plan on building some sort of fermentation chiller this winter. I have access to a large chest freezer that I will probably use for lagering as well as providing cool air for an insulated box for my ales.
 
Brewnscooter, the dog's fine, thanks for asking. I had heard hops were dangerous for dogs so I did keep an eye on her last night but come on, she's a lab, they are notorious for eating anything they can get in their mouth. If the crayons, bandana, pencils, rubber balls and unused tampons havent hurt her, I don't think a little krausen will.
 
Had my first blow out on my first all grain batch this morning. Four batches of beer under my belt and each time I'm learning about something I did wrong, forgot about, or didn't think I'd run into. Maybe I'm a little sick, but this is the stuff that keeps me coming back each time!
 
New-B-Brewer said:
Do I take it out of the bucket, clean it and replace it?
Click to expand...

Yep or rig a blow off tube. Nothing to worry about now but next time you might end up just going with blow off tube so there are truly no worries. Live and learn - this time all yopu have to worry about IMHO is the clean up.

Good luck!
 

Similar threads

_Keven
Question on if this mold made it into my fermenter
Replies
3
Views
570
hotbeer
hotbeer
level-one
Setup for blow off and preventing sanitizer in beer
Replies
3
Views
364
hotbeer
hotbeer
D
Fermenter buckets lid
Replies
15
Views
651
FloppyKnockers
FloppyKnockers
sixstring
Hello, lurker with a first post - Just bottled my first brew
Replies
17
Views
412
mac_1103
mac_1103
S
Anyone ever get a stuck fermentation with WLP300?
Replies
12
Views
568
jdauria
jdauria

Latest posts

Back
Top